Just Got my Water Report

[Mike1234]

Getting back into homebrew and wanting to go all grain.
(Mostly extract previously)
Curious what people recommend based on my water report.
Ward Labs Report:
PH 7.6
(in ppm)
TDS 539
Sodium 21
Potassium 2
Calcium 103
Magnesium 49
Total Hardness CaCO3 462
Nitrate 2.9
Sulfate 13
Chloride 42
Carbonate <1.0 (not detected)
Bicarbonate 501
Total Alkalinity CaCO3 412
Total Iron <1.0 (not detected)

 

[mabrungard]

It is not very useful for brewing. The Ca and Mg are high and the Mg is especially so. The alkalinity is crazy high too. That water could be lime-softened to something more useful, but you may be better served by obtaining a RO machine.

Punt.

 

[Mike1234]

I do have an under-sink RO filter, but it's painfully slow for much more than a few glasses of drinking water.
Also have a traditional water softener.
Should I send in a sample of softened water? Maybe mix the two?

 

[IslandLizard]

You'd collect your RO water in a reservoir during the night/day, so you have your 10 gallons or whatever you need on brew day.

You cannot use a water softener for brewing water. It's filled with sodium!

 

[jan_b19]

The only things you need to worry about are the Mg concentration and the alkalinity.
the SO4 is pretty low.
The Ca is just fine, could it be lower? sure does it need to be? No.
Right now I would only use this water to brew a really dark beer. But if you can get the alkalinity and the Mg down you can brew some decent amber and maybe even blonde beers.

But there is a really simple tool you can use.
enter your water report values on this site.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

select balanced profile to get an idea of what values you need to change. Don't pay attention to the Cl and SO4 values, they should be low.
open the boiling and lime softening, and follow the instructions. Don't forget to decant the water!
You would need a reverse osmosis to reduce those Mg levels.
You could also dilute the water with distilled water but then you change ALL the mineral levels and you would need a new report.

 

[SHbrewing]

It is not very useful for brewing. The Ca and Mg are high and the Mg is especially so. The alkalinity is crazy high too. That water could be lime-softened to something more useful, but you may be better served by obtaining a RO machine.

Punt.

What do you recommend with my water profile

Calcium: 4.20 ppm
Sulfate: 9.00 ppm
Magnesium: 0.46 ppm
Chloride: 9.00 ppm
Sodium: 13.10 ppm
Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 19
Bicarbonate: 23.20 ppm
PH: 7.40

 

[Mike1234]

The only things you need to worry about are the Mg concentration and the alkalinity.
the SO4 is pretty low.
The Ca is just fine, could it be lower? sure does it need to be? No.
Right now I would only use this water to brew a really dark beer. But if you can get the alkalinity and the Mg down you can brew some decent amber and maybe even blonde beers.

But there is a really simple tool you can use.
enter your water report values on this site.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/

select balanced profile to get an idea of what values you need to change. Don't pay attention to the Cl and SO4 values, they should be low.
open the boiling and lime softening, and follow the instructions. Don't forget to decant the water!
You would need a reverse osmosis to reduce those Mg levels.
You could also dilute the water with distilled water but then you change ALL the mineral levels and you would need a new report.

Would I actually need a new water report?
Wouldn't distilled water have essentially 0 ppm in all the categories?
If I used half distilled water, and half of my tap water, wouldn't that cut all my ppm values in half?

I could send a vial of distilled water to Ward labs, but not sure it would be useful.

 

[Bobby_M]

I do have an under-sink RO filter, but it's painfully slow for much more than a few glasses of drinking water.
Also have a traditional water softener.
Should I send in a sample of softened water? Maybe mix the two?

All RO units are slow. You put a simple tee in the line and run some 1/4" PE tubing to a spot where you can set up a large bucket with a float valve. Total cost about 10 bucks.

 

[Bobby_M]

All RO units are slow. You put a simple tee in the line and run some 1/4" PE tubing to a spot where you can set up a large bucket with a float valve. Total cost about 10 bucks.

 

[Indian_villager]

All RO units are slow. You put a simple tee in the line and run some 1/4" PE tubing to a spot where you can set up a large bucket with a float valve. Total cost about 10 bucks.

I bought this and mounted it to a decommissioned fermenter. works like a charm.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0077RAX4W/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[jan_b19]

Would I actually need a new water report?
Wouldn't distilled water have essentially 0 ppm in all the categories?
If I used half distilled water, and half of my tap water, wouldn't that cut all my ppm values in half?

I could send a vial of distilled water to Ward labs, but not sure it would be useful.

Yeah you don't really need a new water report. But be sure to test the pH of the distilled water. It should be 7 or slightly below or above, depending on the temperature when you test it and if the water has been exposed to the atmosphere, usually it will be a bit less than 7.
IF you make your own distilled water you might still need a water report if you're looking for the perfect water for a certain beer. When you buy distilled water you're virtually sure it doesn't contain any minerals, when you make your own some might be left behind but usually not enough to make a real difference. The only thing that could be a problem in that scenario is that you don't know the exact alkalinity (caco3/HCO3) But it should be really low.

I did some calculations for you,

If you dilute 50/50 with distilled water it should look something like this:
It's basically dividing by two

Calcium: 52
Magnesium: 25
Sodium: 11
Sulfate: 7
chloride: 21
Bicarbonate: 251

However, you might want to get the bicarbonate even a bit lower. you you would have to use a dilution of 40/60:

calcium: 41
magnesium: 20
sodium: 8
Sulfate: 5
Chloride: 17
Bicarbonate: 201

You see, the problem when you dilute water is that you always have to get the highest value, in this case the bicarbonate to the desired value. But while doing this all the other minerals in the water are also altered.

So, If you know what you want to brew you have to alter the water profile until it's right for the kind of beer you want.

For example:
From that site i linked last time under water target selection I'm gonna pick balanced profile 2, because i like darker beers

CA: 150 Mg: 10 Na: 80 Cl: 150 SO: 160 and HCO: 220 ppm

So let's look at the bicarbonate we need: your water profile has a bicarbonate level of 501 ppm. and we would need 220 ppm.

So now we calculate how much we need to dilute your tap water and If we use 45% tap water and 55% distilled water we get to 226 ppm bicarbonate.
And that's pretty close.

diluted water profile:
CA:46 Mg:22 Na:9 Cl:19 19 SO:6 and HCO: 220 ppm

Now the problem is that we also diluted the rest of the minerals. And to get these back to the correct amount you need for that water profile you would need to make certain additions. You can find those online, I don't want to make this post longer than it already is.

I think if you would dilute 50/50 or 45/55 you could make a decent amber or dark beer without adding to much. If you want lighter beers you would basically want to dilute the distilled water with some of your water

 

[jan_b19]

OK, i added that last bit as a joke, but if you would take 95% distilled water and 5% tap water you could actually make a pils with it.